


Buzzfeed Unsolved: True Crime — The Unexplained Death of Jason Todd

by gingerbat



Category: Batman (Comics), Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Humor, I hate writing real people its like pulling teeth so forgiveness please, me trying to not use (wheeze) for every commentary interaction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-27 10:21:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18737098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingerbat/pseuds/gingerbat
Summary: “This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved, we’re going to be looking into the unexplained and premature death of one Jason Peter Todd, adopted son of Gotham billionaire, Bruce Wayne, whose mysterious death in Ethiopia has been the subject of many theories and conspiracies over the years.”





	Buzzfeed Unsolved: True Crime — The Unexplained Death of Jason Todd

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Setaflow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Setaflow/gifts).



> Truthfully never saw myself getting back into the fic writing game, but Setaflow decided to personally kill my writer's block and convinced me to write something. I have no idea if someone has done this already and honestly wouldn't be surprised but whatever I guess. This is also the only time I believe I will ever do a crossover so enjoy.

  
 “This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved, we’re going to be looking into the unexplained and premature death of one Jason Peter Todd, adopted son of Gotham billionaire, Bruce Wayne, whose mysterious death in Ethiopia has been the subject of many theories and conspiracies over the years.”

 

“I’m pretty sure I’ve heard about this one. Isn’t this is a solved case?” Shane asked Ryan.

“Technically, yes, but there are like a lot of conspiracies surrounding this death that. Many that actually sound reasonable. This is pretty much because Wayne Industries and the Wayne Family don’t speak public about Jason’s death and there is only so much that is known,” Ryan replied.

Shane put his fingers and scratched his chin, give Ryan a perplexed look, “I see, so I guess we are just gonna waste everyone's time with this one?”

Ryan just stares at Shane, before sighing and gather the papers in front him before continuing, "Let's just get into this. This is a pretty heavy case, involving the death of a child, so just to give you guys a warning before we continue."

 

<+>

 

Born on August 27th, 1995 to Sheila Haywood and Willis Todd, Jason Peter Todd was raised in the rougher, lower-side area of Gotham City formerly known as Park Row and now Crime-Alley. 

 

_That’s a pretty upfront name they got their. Crime-Alley._

_Yeah there wasn’t a lot of effort put into the naming of Gotham_   _boroughs._

_Crime-Alley?_

_It does also has the worst crime rates in the country, so one_   _could say  
they get a pass for bad names._

_That and it’s in New Jersey._

_(Wheezing)..it is._

 

Crime-Alley as you may know is most infamous for being the location of the Park Row Tragedy, which was the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne by mugger Joe Chill in the mid 1970s. It is an area of Gotham where, in every major crime report the city publishes, the most crime is reported. A once glorious area of downtown Gotham, the area slowly became riddled with poverty and crime after the death of the Waynes.

Shortly after Jason’s birth, his parents separated. His mother Sheila lost custody in 1997 to Willis, who later remarried to a woman named Catherine. Sheila soon left Gotham City after the custody of Jason was lost. Willis himself was a known criminal reported to have worked for the infamous gangster and former District Attorney, Two-Face a.k.a. Harvey Dent. Willis was killed in 2002 by Two-Face for reasons unknown and only a few months after, Catherine died of an apparent heroin overdose. This left young Jason an orphan at the age of 7.

 

 _If his father was a criminal, how exactly was he the_ _one who got custody?_

 _Yeah, I actually thought that too while researching but_   _I couldn’t find any  
information as to _ _why Shelia lost custody._  

_Not the best system you got there Gotham._

 

Jason reportedly lived in decrepit and abandoned buildings after the death of his father and step-mother, and, according to police records, had resorted to petty, small time crimes, usually theft, to get by. In 2007, Bruce Wayne announced that he had adopted Jason after apparently meeting him on the streets in Crime-Alley. In an interview Bruce explained that he was in Crime-Alley paying tribute to his parents, Martha and Thomas Wayne, when he came across Jason. Bruce said he had felt an instinctual need to help the boy and had decided to take in.  

 

 _Okay, so there is actually a story that Jason met Bruce because_ _he was caught in the act  
_ _of stealing Bruce’s tires._  

 _(laughing)...He steals tires. Gets adopted instead._  

 _(Cackling)...I guess Bruce Wayne was just like “You’re gonna steal my t_ _ires? Cool, I’m  
_ _just gonna adopt you then.”_  

 _"You’re my son now."_  

_(Wheeze)_

 

Over the next few years, Jason did make a few public appearances but he rarely spoke to the press and Bruce refused to allow him to be interviewed by the media. Jason was briefly homeschooled before being sent to Gotham Academy, where his older adoptive brother, Richard Grayson, had attend. For the most part, life had taken a turn for the better for the young Jason and it seemed as though he was on a path to a successful and happy life. That was until August of 2011.

 

_Uh oh._

_Oh yeah._

 

On August 29th 2011, only two days after his 16th birthday, Wayne Industries released a statement saying that Jason had been killed while helping the Wayne Foundation's aid mission in Ethiopia. The statement said that Jason had died in car-bombing that had occurred while he had been traveling back from one of the aid camps. Bruce hadn’t been with him at the time as he reportedly stayed behind to give further assistence. After his death, Jason’s body was taken to the U.S. Embassy before being flown back to Gotham for the funeral. Jason’s funeral was a private event, with only close friends of the Wayne Family attending, including the Police Commissioner Jim Gordon and his daughter Barbara, Lucius Fox and his family, and Dick Grayson.

 

_So this is actually is still just a solved case?_

_There are a lot of strange occurrences_ _that make this case arguably of being unsolved  
_ _that I am going to-_  

_You know Ryan I’m feeling a little lied to right now._

 ... 

_Will you let me continue?_

 

While Wayne Industries released the official story into how Jason died there were still many questions left unanswered. The perpetrators behind the bombing were never found and no one has ever taken credit for Jason's murder. On top of this, there were strange incidents that had occurred around the same time. For instance, a recently abandoned warehouse outside the capital Addis Ababa, where Jason and Bruce had been staying, was destroyed in an explosion. The body of a woman was found in the ruins, but was never officially identified as it had been burned beyond recognition. It was labeled as a Jane Doe and buried in an unmarked grave. 

Add to this the strangest part of this mystery. Jason’s mother, Sheila Haywood, was said to have been working with a separate aid organization in Ethiopia before disappearing around the same time of her son’s death. A worker at the organization named Jim Starlin reported her missing to the U.S. Embassy and local authorities two days after Jason’s death. After her disappearance, investigators discovered she had been embezzling from from the charity she’d been working for and many believed she had just run off with the money.

 

_It does sounds like there is a lot going on in this “solved” case._

_Oh there is and we're going to dive right into it. Are you happy now?_

_Well, I don't feel lied to anymore_

 

<+>

 

So, let’s get into the theories surrounding the death of Jason Todd. The first theory.

 **Theory 1#** : Jason didn’t die in a car-bombing, but in the warehouse outside Addis Ababa.

 

This theory came out of a supposed autopsy reported of Jason Todd that had been leaked online a few months after his funeral. The report said that Jason’s body had multiple broken bones and blunt-force trauma to the head, ribs, pelvis, and limbs with second and third degree burns over his body. 

 

_Jesus._

_Yeah the report is pretty rough apparently._

 

Some believe that Jason may have actually been kidnapped instead, having been taken while returning from the aid camp and taken to a separate location, the warehouse. The belief is that he was kidnapped and then tortured prior to death and then was killed in the warehouse explosion. A crowbar was found in the warehouse, which could have been the weapon used to beat Jason. Many think there was a cover up by Wayne Industries. The theory being that when the kidnapping happened, while Bruce had been trying to get the money to pay off the kidnappers, Wayne Industries had refused to sign off on the payment which had resulted in Jason’s death. However, this theory has been disputed as Bruce Wayne himself reported when asked about this theory that there was never an autopsy done on Jason’s body and many have said that Bruce Wayne would have had enough money to pay off the kidnappers without having to turn to Wayne Industries for help.

 

 _The weirdest part about this mysterious warehouse is that there is an article_ _from a local_  
_paper that said locals saw someone dressed up as Batman driving a_   _motorcycle in the area,  
but it's unconfirmed if it truly was the Dark Knight _ _that they had seen._

_So Batman was just joy-riding around Ethiopia one night?_

_I mean, the guy is a part of the Justice League so who knows_ _what he may have_   _been up to.  
If anything it may have just been _ _some rando driving_ _around acting_ _like he was The Batman._

 _You know what? I think that_ _Bruce Wayne_ _might be Batman._

_…_

_Okay, let me get this straight. You think that Bruce Wayne,_   _one of the richest  
guys in _ _America, spends his nights fighting_ _crime while dressed up as a bat?_

_I think it’s a legitimate theory that deserves further investigation. I mean  
he was in the area and Batman is known for being from Gotham City._

_I just want you to know that is about 1000 different threads on social media, all of_  
_which have found no evidence that Bruce Wayne is Batman. Experts have found no  
evidence that they are the same person._ 

_Well, I mean, think about it. Have you ever seen Bruce Wayne and Batman  
in the same room together?_

_I'm not even going to give a response to that question._  

_Well Ryan, you just did._

_(Sigh)_

 

Continuing on to the second theory.

 **Theory 2#** : The body in the warehouse is actually Sheila Haywood and Jason died as a result her.

 

This theory is connected to the first theory and came out of the _official_ autopsy report on the Jane Doe found in the warehouse. The body of the Jane Doe was reported to have been a caucasian women around the same height as Sheila, with similar injuries to the body as the supposed autopsy of Jason Todd, though not to the same extreme. While there was evidence of blunt-force trauma, the cause of death was listed as homicide and most likely the result of the explosion. An investigator sent to the scene, Abel Aparo, reported that the body seemed to have been moved and there was evidence to suggest that someone else had been in the ruins, possibly tampering with evidence, before investigators arrived. 

Sheila Haywood, being Jason’s biological mother and one he had not seen since he was two years old, would explain his sudden visit to Ethiopia. Many who worked with Sheila at the charity she worked for reported seeing her with a young boy about the same age and description as Jason prior to her disappearance. She was seen the night before her disappearance leaving the charity camp with this boy. The close proximity from where Sheila was working and Jason was staying were only a days journey apart, making it plausible that the boy Sheila was seen with was Jason. Along with the reports of Sheila embezzling, it’s believed that Sheila could have been working with the supposed kidnappers to hold her son hostage for a large money ransom. It’s possible Sheila was either betrayed or killed by the kidnappers so they wouldn't have to share the money.

 

_She’s really not going for mother of the year?_

_Yeah, if this one is true you kind of have to feel sorry f_ _or the kid._

 

That said, one volunteer at the charity, Doug Mahnke, told investigators that Sheila had been having financial issues and had been increasingly actting jumpy and paranoid before she disappeared, constantly talking on the phone with someone. Mahnke said that she had seemed stressed and terrified about some he'd overheard her speaking to on the phone, telling them that she would "get them what they needed" and "he'd be there. They just needed to be patient." It is possible that Sheila was forced to help the kidnappers.

 

_So she may have not been that terrible?_

_Possibly. We just don't know since she hasn't been seen since._  

 

Moving on to our third and final theory.

 **** **Theory #3** : Jason Todd isn’t actually dead.

 

_What?!_

_(laughing) There is_ _actually a theory that Jason Todd is still alive._

_How?_

_Photos surfaced on a few social media sites a few years ago, of a guy in his twenties who looks  
_ _strikingly like an older Jason Todd if he were still alive._

_Tell me more._

 

The photo was supposedly taken in Gotham City by a local and posted in a reddit thread. The photo itself is of a man hanging out outside a diner in the Bowery neighborhood, which neighbors Crime-Alley, smoking a cigarette and many have noticed striking similarities in the appearance of this individual and the "supposedly" dead Jason Todd. The person who posted it said that he went up and asked the guy what his name was and they said "Todd Peter."

 

_(wheezing)...Todd Peter?_

_(laughing) I know._

 

Many have said that judging from the outfit the individual could be the infamous Gotham vigilante, the Red Hood, but no one knows for sure. While many believe it is just a case of mistaken identity, some think it's a joke, but others speculate there could be some truth to the theory. That said, the photo resulted in a bunch of different conspiracies and reasons as to why Jason faked his death. They range from wanting to return to a life of anonymity he hadn’t had since before he was adopted to faking his death so that Bruce could adopt more orphans.

 

_(wheezing intensifies)...that is so bad._

_(laughing)...it really is but like, when you think about it, Bruce Wayne_   _is now at his fifth  
__child and only one of them is his legitimate biological one_ _. The rest he adopted._

 _(laughing)_ _Adoption agencies must love him._

 _(Wheeze) It's apparently a very common joke in Gotham and, if we are honest,_ _Bruce Wayne  
is _ _sort of a_ _meme._

_(Wheeze)_

<+>

 

In the end, the truth about what happened to Jason Todd on 29th of August 2012 is a case surround with mystery. We may never know what truly happened in Ethiopia and who the mysterious Jane Doe found in the warehouse is. It is a mystery that has left many speculating what may have actually happened. Was it a botched kidnapping? Or was Jason truly killed in a car bombing as the official report say? While this case may officially seem closed many still see the death of Jason Todd as... _unsolved._

  

<+>

 

"I still think Bruce Wayne is Batman," Shane says to Ryan.

"I really don't think you understand this. A lot of people have looked into whether or not Bruce Wayne is Batman," Ryan replies. "There are god knows how many discussions online about this. Like experts, _experts_ , who have gotten involved in this." 

"I still believe it," Shane states.

Ryan, in shock and disbelief, says, "The dude is like a billionaire playboy. He's still seen hanging out with famous models once in a while and has like _five kids_. Him being Batman is like saying that the theory about Metropolis reporter Clark Kent being Superman is true!"

Shane is silent for a few seconds before saying, "I could see it."

"Unbelievable," Ryan says, shaking his head. 

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all know for a damn fact that the person who post that picture was Tim Drake and it was the rest of the Batkids adding fuel to the fire by creating those conspiracies.


End file.
